Frequently asked questions

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Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we get asked about Shaping Care Together.


If you have questions that aren't answered here please let us know by emailing us at shaping.caretogether@nhs.net


What is Shaping Care Together?

Shaping Care Together is an NHS programme aimed at changing the way we provide health and care services in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.


Our vision is to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities, enabling people to live longer and healthier lives. We want to do this by creating and delivering safe, integrated, and sustainable services. The Shaping Care Together programme was set up to help us meet these ambitions through the care we provide. Our goal is to organise NHS services built on the provision of safe and high-quality care, today, and in the future.


Why do we need to change the way things work?

Our responsibility is to provide the highest standard of care and to meet the needs of the patients and communities we serve. However, funding challenges, staffing shortages, and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which are being felt right across the NHS, are making it harder for us to do this in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire. We already face:

  • A workforce recruitment and retention problem that is making it harder to improve quality, performance, and safety of care.
  • Significant financial challenges made tougher by the number of sites we operate. In some areas, our local NHS is operating with substantial annual deficits.
  • An ageing population, high rates of disease, high demand for services and significant health inequalities.
  • Important infrastructure challenges. Sites across our local NHS need investment and reconfiguration to allow us to meet a rising demand for services in a way that provides excellent care, in a safe environment.

Following detailed, expert evaluation, several services have been flagged as ‘fragile’. We are simply unable to continue offering these services as they are today.


Have you already decided what will happen?

No decisions have been made.

We are entering a phase of extensive engagement and listening to help us understand what matters most to people. Working with partners, our experienced and dedicated staff, and the communities we serve, we will explore approaches for how to make urgent and emergency care services fit for the future in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.


Is this a formal public and staff consultation?

No. It is a listening exercise. The engagement activity will capture views from patients, public, staff and stakeholders.


What do clinical and non-clinical staff think about this?

All clinical and non-clinical staff are invited to share their personal and professional views as part of the engagement programme.


Who’s in charge of this?

Shaping Care Together is an NHS programme run in partnership between Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria.


What will happen after the engagement period?

Your feedback will help us to understand whether there is a case for change. If there is, we will then involve local people in developing possible options for what that change might look like.


How do I get involved if I need help or information in a different format?

If you need help accessing any of the programme information in a different format please contact us at shaping.caretogether@nhs.net , letting us know more about how we can support you.


Who will check that you are following the correct process?

NHS England will assure the process to make sure that it complies with their guidance: NHS England » Planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients

We want to make sure as many local people as possible have the chance to have their say in any decisions about their local healthcare services.


What have you learnt from engagement so far?

Since Shaping Care Together was launched, we have been listening to all those affected by and involved in the provision of health and care services. Initial listening and engagement activities have helped shape the way we will go about deciding what and how to change. We now know some of the things that matter most to people, such as:

  • Reducing waiting times for outpatient appointments.
  • Receiving the best possible care, even if that means having to travel a little further.
  • Having care provided closer to home and in the local community wherever possible.


What is the link between the creation of the new Mersey and West Lancashire Hospitals NHS Teaching Trust and Shaping Care Together?

Following detailed, expert evaluation, several services have been flagged as ‘fragile’. We are simply unable to continue offering these services as they are today. Along with our partners we are working to find alternative solutions that will ensure safe, high-quality care, now and in the future. In 2023, as a first step to stabilising these fragile services, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust and St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust were joined together to form Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Alongside this, the Shaping Care Together programme has been looking at how we can organise these fragile services to be sustainable in the long term.





Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we get asked about Shaping Care Together.


If you have questions that aren't answered here please let us know by emailing us at shaping.caretogether@nhs.net


What is Shaping Care Together?

Shaping Care Together is an NHS programme aimed at changing the way we provide health and care services in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.


Our vision is to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities, enabling people to live longer and healthier lives. We want to do this by creating and delivering safe, integrated, and sustainable services. The Shaping Care Together programme was set up to help us meet these ambitions through the care we provide. Our goal is to organise NHS services built on the provision of safe and high-quality care, today, and in the future.


Why do we need to change the way things work?

Our responsibility is to provide the highest standard of care and to meet the needs of the patients and communities we serve. However, funding challenges, staffing shortages, and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which are being felt right across the NHS, are making it harder for us to do this in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire. We already face:

  • A workforce recruitment and retention problem that is making it harder to improve quality, performance, and safety of care.
  • Significant financial challenges made tougher by the number of sites we operate. In some areas, our local NHS is operating with substantial annual deficits.
  • An ageing population, high rates of disease, high demand for services and significant health inequalities.
  • Important infrastructure challenges. Sites across our local NHS need investment and reconfiguration to allow us to meet a rising demand for services in a way that provides excellent care, in a safe environment.

Following detailed, expert evaluation, several services have been flagged as ‘fragile’. We are simply unable to continue offering these services as they are today.


Have you already decided what will happen?

No decisions have been made.

We are entering a phase of extensive engagement and listening to help us understand what matters most to people. Working with partners, our experienced and dedicated staff, and the communities we serve, we will explore approaches for how to make urgent and emergency care services fit for the future in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.


Is this a formal public and staff consultation?

No. It is a listening exercise. The engagement activity will capture views from patients, public, staff and stakeholders.


What do clinical and non-clinical staff think about this?

All clinical and non-clinical staff are invited to share their personal and professional views as part of the engagement programme.


Who’s in charge of this?

Shaping Care Together is an NHS programme run in partnership between Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria.


What will happen after the engagement period?

Your feedback will help us to understand whether there is a case for change. If there is, we will then involve local people in developing possible options for what that change might look like.


How do I get involved if I need help or information in a different format?

If you need help accessing any of the programme information in a different format please contact us at shaping.caretogether@nhs.net , letting us know more about how we can support you.


Who will check that you are following the correct process?

NHS England will assure the process to make sure that it complies with their guidance: NHS England » Planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients

We want to make sure as many local people as possible have the chance to have their say in any decisions about their local healthcare services.


What have you learnt from engagement so far?

Since Shaping Care Together was launched, we have been listening to all those affected by and involved in the provision of health and care services. Initial listening and engagement activities have helped shape the way we will go about deciding what and how to change. We now know some of the things that matter most to people, such as:

  • Reducing waiting times for outpatient appointments.
  • Receiving the best possible care, even if that means having to travel a little further.
  • Having care provided closer to home and in the local community wherever possible.


What is the link between the creation of the new Mersey and West Lancashire Hospitals NHS Teaching Trust and Shaping Care Together?

Following detailed, expert evaluation, several services have been flagged as ‘fragile’. We are simply unable to continue offering these services as they are today. Along with our partners we are working to find alternative solutions that will ensure safe, high-quality care, now and in the future. In 2023, as a first step to stabilising these fragile services, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust and St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust were joined together to form Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Alongside this, the Shaping Care Together programme has been looking at how we can organise these fragile services to be sustainable in the long term.